Irwin Still Has Top Two

SEP. 22 -- Four-star receiver Trent Irwin still has a top two of Pac-12 schools, but UCLA has moved up a little bit...

Newhall (Calif.) Hart receiver Trent Irwin has had a nice start to his senior campaign, with a couple of very explosive performances to his credit heading into league play.

“It’s been going pretty good,” Irwin said. “As a teram, we started a little shaky this season, but we’re coming on now. The first game we were up big and then lost it in the end, but we’re starting to come back now and we’re just focused on winning the rest of our games and winning our league.”

Irwin and his quarterback Brady White have been a fixture on the 7-on-7 circuit for the last two years, and it’s clear just from watching them play that when White needs a completion, Irwin is almost assuredly the receiver he looks for.

With White committed to Arizona State, the obvious question is how much that connection will influence Irwin’s decision.

“It’s big,” Irwin said. “ASU’s a great place. But Stanford is also a great place. It’s a great decision to have to make, so I’m just trying to talk to coaches now to help me make my decision.”

Irwin had narrowed things to a top two in the sumer, and planned to make a decision in August, but UCLA offered soon afterward, which threw his timeline off a bit. Still, it sounds as if the Sun Devils and Cardinal still have a substantial lead.

“UCLA is breaking in a little bit,” Irwin said. “It’s still ASU and Stanford as a top two, but the top five would be ASU, Stanford, UCLA, Oregon State, and Texas Tech.”

David Shaw, the head coach for Stanford, was in attendance for Irwin’s game against Pasadena Muir on Saturday. As far as we could tell, he was the only major college coach at the game, signifying his significant interest in Irwin.

“That’s really big,” Irwin said of Shaw being there. “He’s spending his time to come down here, taking the jet from Stanford, that’s huge. That’s all you can ask for.”

As for UCLA, the Bruins have only been recruiting Irwin heavily for a short time, but there are some built-in advantages that Irwin recognizes about the school.

“Well, UCLA is really close,” Irwin said. “It’s a close place and that’s always been big for my family. Great academically, great scholarship. Great coaches turning the program around. They’re doing great things. I don’t know. I still have to talk to the coaches and see where I fit into the offense, but it’s going good.”

As for visits, Irwin knows that he’ll take an official visit to Arizona State and then one to Stanford, but the rest of the schedule is up in the air.

“I’ve got five, so I’ll probably take the other three, but I’m not sure where yet,” Irwin said. “I was thinking I’d make my decision in Novemeber, but I don’t know after what happened in August (when UCLA offered just before he was planning to make his decision). I’m just sort of sitting on it, talking it over with coaches and my family. We’ll see how I feel then.”